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The break

Evans on Monday

Jeker

The jersey is still in ONCE's hands

FIR was just one of a few compaines exhibiting all-carbon clincher wheelsets

Casco's new TT helmet (as modeled by VeloNews' own Nick Ramey)

A twenty pound race rig is hard to ignore

Carbon for 'cross? Yep-you betcha'

Clean lines for Shimano levers

Shimano stopped SRAM cold in its trigger-shifting tracks in Germany

Fassa Bortolo's Alessandro Petacchi won the third stage of the 2003 Vuelta a España, a 154.3km race from Cangas de Onís to Santander on Monday. By easily out-sprinting Telekom's Erik Zabel and Quick Step's Tom Boonen, Petacchi became only the third rider in history to win stages in all three grand tours in the same season and the first to do it since 1958, when Italian Pierino Baffi achieved the feat 45 years ago. Petacchi won six stages in the Giro d'Italia and four in the Tour de France this year. "I'm very happy because I wanted to win in the three big races and give this win to the

Jonas Carney (Prime Alliance) wrapped-up the American Criterium Championship Series by winning the 42nd Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix Sunday afternoon. This was his fourth win in the seven-race series which includes some of America’s longest-running and most notorious criteriums (Athens Twilight, Superweek, Tour of Somerville) and ended Sunday in Manhattan Beach. Racers competed on a 1.4 mile loop, an out-and-back course along North Valley Road which included two 180-degree turns and a short, seven-percent grade climb at the halfway mark. With a headwind along one straightaway and the

Hit 'em wear it countsEditor;In my humble opinion, the rule to adopt for all pro sports is simple:You test positive (A and B) for drugs, your annual earnings are cappedat 10-percent of what you are making or $1,000,000 a year, whichever isless (see Especially at the higher echelons, this still allows an athlete to makea substantial - albeit reduced - income from his or her talent. However,the kicker - a second positive test gets a lifetime ban from professionalsports - anywhere. Doesn't matter the sport you start out in or want toplay - cycling, baseball, anybody's national type of football

The Vuelta, unlike any other three-week race, started with a tough day in the mountains. Climbing the second day of the race is dangerous for the GC riders, especially after a tough TTT the night before. In our team meeting before the race we talked about the climbs and how the Vuelta could be lost on stage 2, but not won. At the end of the day, this was the case with several team leaders minutes off of the overall lead. The last few days we have woken up to gray skies and threatening rain. On Sunday, rain began to fall down half way through the stage, just prior to the second climb. ONCE

Jonas Carney

Money in the bank

Pay day

Petacchi had room to spare

Day 2 in gold for Rodrriguez

Leipheimer finished 5:13 back and is now 19:06 off the lead

The boys on the bus

Floyd before spending a day in the rain

Well, that was fast. World champion Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) has pulled out of the Vuelta a España, missing the start of the race’s second stage Sunday and catching an early flight back to Italy. Cipollini abandoned the race after having completed only one stage, Saturday’s opening 28-kilometer team time trial. Cipollini rode poorly during the stage, having to be pushed by teammates on several occasions, leading to Domina Vacanze receiving a fine from race officials. In a statement given to Spanish radio station Onda Cero, the Vuelta’s race director, Victor Cordero characterized

Finishing second might be good enough for some riders, but not for three-timeworld champion Alison Sydor. The 37-year-old mountain biking legend missed the gold medal by a painfullysmall gap of 16 seconds behind rock solid German Sabine Spitz in Sunday's elitewomen's world championships. "It's the world championships I always want to win," said Sydor, whosuccumbed to Spitz in the final lap of the 36.9km race. "I'm not thinkingabout medals. I want to win." Sydor set a punishing pace early with two-time world champion MargaFullana but Spitz clawed back on with two laps to go to grab

Cofidis's Luis Perez scored his maiden win in the second stage of the Vuelta a España Sunday, a 148km ride between Gijon and Cangas de Onis. ONCE's Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano was overtaken as the overall race leader by teammate Joaquin Rodriguez. The 29-year-old Spaniard broke away with compatriot Carlos Sastre on the final climb of the day, the first category Fito, and then outsprinted Sastre in the streets of Cangas de Onis. His time at the end of the 148-km stage was three hours 27 minutes 32 seconds -14 seconds ahead of the peloton. The Cofidis rider said: "Last year a fall prevented

Filip Meirhaeghe had been close before. Three times in his long mountain biking career he’d walked onto the podium at the world mountain bike championships, but all three times he’d not been the winner, twice settling for bronze in the late 1990s, before grabbing silver a year ago after finishing an agonizing 19 seconds behind Canadian Roland Green. But this time, with Green not a factor and Meirhaeghe on fire again, the Belgian used a stunning charge from outside the top 10 to finally capture that elusive world title. “I’d had thoughts that I was not meant to win this,” admitted

Vasseur takes the Tour of HesseCedric Vasseur (Cofidis) took the final overall victory at Germany’s Tour of Hesse, as Telekom’s Daniele Nardello took the fifth and final stage of the race, a 170.2km run between Wetzlar and Wiesbaden.Results–Stage 51. Daniele Nardello (I), Telekom, at 170.2 km in 4:23:06 2. Franck Renier (F) 3. Serge Baguet (B), both s.t. 4. Sven Teutenberg (G), at 0:3:01 5. Rene Haselbacher (A), at 0:5:16 6. Danilo Hondo (G)Final Standings 1. Cedric Vasseur (F), Cofidis, 22:35:16. 2. Maryan Hary (F), at 0:03 3. Axel Merckx (B), at 0:07 4. Sylvain Chavanel (F), at 0:37 5.

After the fall: Cipollini at the Giro

Perez edges Sastre

The break

Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano spent just one day in gold.

Julich rode in 8:02 back.

The jersey remains in ONCE's hands.

A day in Asturias

Despite losing two riders early on, ONCE-Eroski lived up to its role of overwhelming favorite in the opening team time trial event in the Vuelta a España on Saturday. It was a repeat of the Spanish squad's 2002 victory in the same stage over American squad U.S. Postal-Berry Floor. ONCE-Eroski clocked 32 minutes, 1 second for the 28km course starting and finishing in Gijon, 10 seconds faster than Postal and 24 seconds ahead of third-placed Ibanesto.com. Spaniard Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, 29, crossed the line at the head of the ONCE-Eroski team to take the first gold leader's jersey of

Image files for Vuelta

In a season that saw Anne-Caroline Chausson step back from the international circuit, many thought the 25-year-old would be vulnerable in Saturday's women's downhill world championship. Chausson erased any doubts as to whether she's still the queen bee of the women's gravity circuit when she roared through the intermediate time check 12 seconds faster than runner-up Sabrina Jonnier en route to her record eighth consecutive world title. "I didn't think I was going that fast. That's when you know things are going well, when things seem too easy," said Chausson, who won in 5 minutes, 10.23

Johan Museeuw may miss the road cycling world championships in Canada next month after his house was raided in a police drugs investigation, his manager said in an interview published on Saturday. "I still have full confidence in Johan Museeuw," Patrick Lefevere, manager of the Quick-Step team told La Derniere Heure - Les Sports. "The inquiry will prove Johan made no errors. But, on the other hand, I fear his image is damaged." Museeuw will continue with his race program over the next few days starting with the Dutch Delta Ronde this weekend, but Lefevere said his preparation for the

Go ahead, call him the heir apparent. Greg Minnaar is more than worthy. First he shocked the downhill-racing world in 2001, snatching the overall World Cup title from Nicolas Vouilloz. Now, after hiring Vouilloz’s former coach to be his personal trainer, the South African has taken over the spot the retired Frenchman owned for so many years, winning the downhill title at the world mountain biking championships in Lugano, Switzerland, on Saturday. Taking off from the No. 3 qualifier’s spot, Minnaar blasted his way down the steep, 1.45-mile track on Monte Tamaro, posting a 4:37.78. That was

After three days of sitting around in a hotel and counting the hours and then minutes until the start, the Vuelta is finally under way. The course around Spain this year takes us first through the Pyrénées, then along the east coast toward the southern peaks, and then up to Madrid. The course suits our team, with six mountain stages where Chechu, Roberto and Triki can shine, some flatter potentially windy days where the rest of us can control the race from the front, and some sprint stages where Max can show his strengths. The team has come to the Vuelta this year with perhaps the

ONCE shows Spain how a team time trial is done

Postal finished 10 seconds down

Gonzalez de Galdeano sports the first leader's jersey

Too much Metallica for Hincapie, y'think?

Evans stage 3

Evans stage 3

This year's Vuelta a España will kick off Saturday against a harsh economic backdrop with the sport in crisis in the host nation following the recent news that Banesto and ONCE will both end their long sponsorship of cycling at the end of the season. The Kelme team is also having its problems and minor races are falling by the wayside in a poor climate for cycling. "It's the worst news I've had since my fall in the Tour de France," said ONCE’s Joseba Beloki, several times a podium finisher in the world's toughest race, on learning last month that his sponsor had elected to pull out the

Readers who caught DedeDemet-Barry’s diary from the eighth round of the women's World Cupheld in Nürnberg, Germany, may have been concerned about the statusof Saturn rider Lyne Bessette, who was taken down in a crash just 2km intothe race and landed squarely on her head and right shoulder.Although her helmet was shattered and she remembers none of the crash,Bessette emerged relatively unscathed.“I just came back from the doctor and it’s really positive,” Bessettereported Thursday afternoon. “My head and neck are fine. It’s just a broken[right] collarbone, but nothing else. It’s broken

Veterinarian Jos Landuyt has admitted selling hormones to professional cyclists, the public prosecutor's office in Kortrijk in western Belgium has said. Landuyt, who comes from Oostrozebeke, which is about 15km from Kortrijk, was interviewed late on Thursday after police raided 20 houses, including that of the country's leading cyclist, Johan Museeuw. The prosecutors' office mentioned no cyclists by name, and Musseuw has yet to make any comment to the media on the matter. Kintana withdraws from Vuelta after B test positiveSpanish rider Aitor Kintana has withdrawn from the Tour of Spain

In the aftermath of the incident that saw American cross-country racers Todd Wells and Adam Craig ruled ineligible to race here in Lugano, Switzerland, at the 2003 world mountain bike championships, the finger-pointing has begun. Each of the four parties involved — the riders, the UCI, the trade teams and USA Cycling — are all looking elsewhere when asked who was at fault. But it’s more likely that all four bear at least a portion of the blame. So what caused the information disconnect that resulted in Craig and Wells making a wasted trip to Europe? Settle in, it’s complicated. The

"Tales from the gutter" made great readingEditor:I have really enjoyed Jed Schneiders’ "Tales from the gutter.” He gave a very real account of racing in Europe, both the up and the down side. I especially liked his latest, hopefully not his last, article. I grew up in England and raced in the early 1970s. There was not a "that guy" that I could remember, but I had always wanted to follow the footsteps of Tom Simpson and Barry Hoban. I eventually took the big step and went to Brittany thinking I would show those Frenchies a thing or two. I even used to practice going over an imaginary finish

Swiss rider Balz Weber's legs held out just long enough to win Friday's hotly contested under-23 world championship race. Weber had just reeled in Spanish pocket rocket Ivan Alvarez at the beginning of the fifth of seven punishing laps when his legs froze up with cramps. Germany's Manuel Fumic was hot on his tail and edged within nine seconds of catching Weber when his legs bounced back to life just in time to win the gold. "I went at my own rhythm when my legs cramped. I thought I was going to lose everything, but they felt better in the final lap and I could ride 100 percent again," said

Editor’s note:VeloNews.com received the following letter from Amber Neben, of the T-Mobile women’s team, today. Neben is currently ranked 25th in the world, the highest ranked American and, until now, a favorite to land a spot on the U.S. team for next year’s Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.After testing positive for nandrolone metabolites in samples taken May 31, 2003 during competition in Montreal, Neben has voluntarily suspended herself from competition, pending the resolution of further test results and appeals. The decision will, of course, mean that she will not participate in this

The way I see it, my vacation is coming not a minute too soon. Inside Communications’ headquarters is in full renovation/office-shuffle mode, making for a few, uh, inconveniences. With our kitchen sink out of commission today, the last straw for me was having to step into the men’s room to rinse out the coffeepots before making some joe. It was almost enough to kill my appetite for this morning’s glazed donuts. Almost …. The coffee was another matter. On the other hand, vacation took me out of the rotation for next week’s T-Mobile International in San Francisco, which has been one of the

Amber Neben, of Irvine, California, today informed USA Cycling that she has decided to voluntarily suspend herself from competition, pending the resolution of medical control test results from samples taken May 31, 2003 during competition at the Montreal World Cup event. The tests conducted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) indicate the presence of trace amounts of the banned substance nandralone that is above the limits set forth by the UCI's anti-doping regulations. In light of this announcement, Ms. Neben is ineligible for nomination to the 2003 Road World Championship Team and

It’s probably to early to call it a full-fledged changing of the guard, but after years of gated-racing domination by the likes of Eric Carter and Brian Lopes, there was a new face atop the four-cross podium at the world mountain bike championships in Lugano, Switzerland, on Friday night. Bolstered by blazing fast starts throughout the night, Czech rider Michal Prokop earned the first major win of his career in front of an estimated crowd of 5000. In the women’s race, there was no big surprise – just the continued domination of Frenchwoman Anne-Caroline Chausson, who earned the fourth (every

Fassa Bortolo1 Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez (Sp)2 Juan José De Los Angeles Segui (Sp)3 Dario Frigo (I)4 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr)5 Serguei Ivanov (Rus)6 Alessandro Petacchi (I)7 Matteo Tosatto (I)8 Guido Trenti (USA)9 Tadej Valjavec (Slo)U.S.Postal Service11 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Sp)12 Michael Barry (Can)13 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Sp)14 George Hincapie (USA)15 Benoît Joachim (Lux)16 Floyd Landis (USA)17 Matt White(Aus)18 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Sp)19 Max Van Heeswijk (Ned)ONCE - Eroski21 Igor Gonzalez De Galdeano (Sp)22 José Azevedo (Por)23 Marcos Antonio Serrano Rodriguez (Sp)24 Jan Hruska

Mr. Rogers' neighborhood: Lyne gets her bell rung; Am I really gonna drink that?

Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy was all alone after the first lap

Swiss uncramps to take U23 gold

Michael Prokop outs his BMX skills to work

Chausson's won all the gated-racing titles

You might have guessed that the tough and technical cross-country course would pose the biggest obstacle for the U.S. national team here at the world mountain bike championships in Lugano, Switzerland. But with three days of racing remaining, it’s the UCI’s mandatory medical monitoring policy that’s giving the Americans the biggest headache. First came word that under-23 medal contender Adam Craig had been told he couldn’t race after failing to get a battery of medical tests done during the spring. And now 2001 U.S. short track national champ Todd Wells has had the same ax fall on him.

Dear Bob,I was on a ride when a pick-up truck loaded with fence posts hangingover the side passed me. The posts hit me and knocked off my bike. I fracturedmy wrist and my bike was totaled. The driver of the truck blames the storethat loaded the posts and suggested I make a claim against them. Is thestore liable?B.R.Fla.Dear B.R,Let me break down your inquiry into two different questions:1) If I sued the lumber yard, could I win?In Florida, you would have a fairly good chance.2) Should I ignore the driver and go after the lumber yard?No way.There was a 1992 Florida case with many of the same

Belgian police raided the homes of 21 cyclists Thursday, including that of former world champion Johan Museeuw in a search for banned performance-enhancing drugs. An official at the public prosecutor's office in the western town of Kortrijk said detectives took Museeuw to headquarters for questioning. Spokesman Tom Janssens said police found quantities of suspicious drugs when they staged coordinated raids on the homes of professional riders, including former world cyclo-cross champion Mario De Clercq, OJ Planckaert, Chris Peers, Nico Hendrickx and Oliver Penny. "In all these places,

Five-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong and his wife have again separated and are now planning to divorce, according to a report in the Austin American Statesman. Armstrong and wife Kristin separated two weeks ago, soon after they moved back to Austin from their European home in Girona, Spain, according to a story published in Thursday editions of the Texas newspaper. The couple is currently in mediation to reach a divorce settlement, while maintaining separate homes in Central Austin, the newspaper reported. "It's an unfortunate situation," Kristin Armstrong, 32, told the

Dear readers;Just as I was about to send this column in today, I received a pressrelease that might interest a few of you, particularly if you are in needof a good carbon fix. Campagnolo announced on Thursday that its carbon Hyperon wheels are nowalso available as clinchers. "The carbon rims for clincher tires turned out to be much more complicatedthan expected," the release noted. "It was not a matter of adapting therim for tubular tires but of designed a completely new rim. The requirementsof a rim for clincher tires are completely different from those of a rimfor tubular tires. Issues of

Portuguese rider Rui on Thursday blamed a positive test for steroids on an ointment he was using for saddle sores. Lavarinhas has been suspended for six months by the UCI after failing the test during this April's Paris-Nice race. The sports daily Record said cycling's governing body made the decision on Wednesday after the Portuguese cycling federation refused to take action. Lavarinhas, who came third in the Tour of Portugal this year, is the second rider from Milaneza-MSS to be suspended this week for doping after Spanish rider David Bernabeu tested positive for the same substance, the

The world's layout.

The map of Monte Tamaro

Anne-Caroline...

...and her bike.

Church at the top of the gondola.

New twist to the concept of 'road gap.'

Museeuw

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn: Campy's Carbon Clincher

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn: Campy's Carbon Clincher